Ancient Vows
category:Missions |width="30%" valign="top"| |} Preparations * Assemble a party of six in level 40 gear. * It is recommended to bring the following: :* Two Giant Scales for your party or alliance. (These can be farmed on the way to the BC.) :* Yellow Liquid for your kiters and tanks. (See below.) * The following food and medicine are known to be useful: :* Jack-o'-Lantern or Sole Sushi: for kiters (enhances Evasion). :* Hi-Potions: for melees, tanks and kiters. :* juice or Yagudo Drinks: for mages. :* Hi-Ethers: for mages. :* Echo Drops: for mages. (Useful in Riverne if silenced on the way to the BC.) Walkthrough * Head for the Dilapidated Gate in Lufaise Meadows at (F-7). * After receiving the cutscene at the gate, you will pass through. Run straight ahead to the end of the cliff and click on the Spatial Displacement. You will recieve another cutscene and enter Riverne - Site #A01. This area has a Level 40 cap. * Make your way ahead, West toward (L-8), and click on the Spatial Displacement there. * If you don't have two Giant Scales, they may be farmed in this area from Wyvern-type mobs named Firedrakes. More are found in the next area, in case you weren't able to obtain two. * Proceed to (G-10) and trade one Giant Scale to the Spatial Displacement to open it for travel. (Make sure your entire party or alliance gathers around the Displacement before the scale is used; it will only remain open for a limited period of time.) * In the next area, cast Invisible or use Prism Powder to make your way past the Atomic Clusters—they are aggressive to magic, as well, so use extra caution. * Head to the Spatial Displacement at (E-10). Trade your second Giant Scale to it and head through. * The Cloud Hippogryphs in the next area can make problems with their True Sight. Stay against the right side of the path to reach the next Spatial Displacement. Click on it to enter Monarch Linn. * You will emerge in an uncapped waiting area (similar to the Spires in the Chapter 1 Promyvions). When healed and ready, trigger the Spatial Displacement in front of you. Select the battle "Ancient Vows". You will recieve a cutscene, then zone into the Battlefield. * Buff, eat food, then engage. Boss Battle for "Ancient Vows" * This is a six-person BC fight with a level 40 cap and a time limit of thirty minutes. You will be facing three Mammets-19 Epsilon. They are humanoid fighters (presumably of the Zilart race) capable of changing Jobs at will. Job being used can be identified from the weapon the Mammet has equipped: :* "Normal Form" (No equipped weapon; Monk-type? Uses weak single strikes) :* "Great Katana Form" (Samurai-type? Geared toward Weapon Skill-like attacks and TP-based AOE status abilities) :* "Staff Form" (Black Mage-type, geared toward heavy magic attack, particularly AOE -ga magic; succeptible to physical attack, resistant to Silence) :* "Halberd Form" (Dragoon-type, geared toward heavy physical attack; high delay between swings. Most kiters and tanks prefer this form to lock into). * Yellow Liquid (dropped from both known Mammet types, sold at Auction House under "Medicine") will lock the targeted Mammet into its current form for thirty seconds, during which it is unable to change jobs. This is useful for both kiting and tanking. * Mammets will occasionally use abilities that grant them a damage-converting effect for approximately twenty seconds. These effects are extremely dangerous, as an attack at an improper time with the effect active will cause the Mammet to recover HP. They are named: :* Transmogrification (Converts all physical damage into HP) :* Magic Wall (Converts all magical damage into HP) *No matter what strategy is in effect, your log window should be watched at all times for the use of these abilities. Attacks of the type being converted should stop immediately, tanks or nukers "testing" the effect's status at their discretion until damage is once again done, at which point it should be safe to resume attacks of that type. ;Party Tactics * The method used the most often for this battle is to send two party members to kite one Mammet each from either side of the battlefield at the start of the fight—running them around the periphery of the battlefield—while the tank Provokes the center Mammet and draws it into the entry tunnel for the remaining members to attack. When the center Mammet is defeated, one kiter will bring the next Mammet into the tunnel for the party to fight, and so on with the last Mammet. :*NINs, or players with a NIN subjob, are favorites for kiting the Mammets; RDM/NIN seems to be a particular favorite for Gravity and Stoneskin/Phalanx as backup for Utsusemi: Ichi. (Chainspell can also be used with Utsusemi in emergency situations, or to expedite recovery from Convert.) However, this job combo is not actually neccesary for victory in this battle. BSTs (using Jug Pets) and SMNs (using Avatars) are also known to be very effective Mammet kiters, Mammets also seem very easy to kite in general. * Another tactic used is to send a PLD in to tank all three Mammets with Invincible while several heavy magic attackers (BLMs, SMNs with Astral Flow and the Avatar strongest on that particular Vana'diel Day) strike the Mammets down with high-damage AOEs. This is a faster method (one that can even set server records), but far more dangerous, as hate will be volatile and Invincible won't last forever. * A third tactic is for the entire party to use Reraise items (or just for the White Mage to Reraise him/herself), then immediately focus on one Mammet—ignoring the other two as they do damage—running back into the tunnel when the first Mammet is defeated, then fighting the remaining Mammets until the party is wiped. When the Mammets leave and return to their positions, the entire party is Reraised/Raised and waits for Weakness to wear, then engages the remaining two as if the battle was a normal EXP fight (though still watching for Transmogrification and Magic Wall). A party will lose EXP with this method (if unprepared, members can possibly delevel), and they won't exactly set any server records; regardless, it seems to be the easiest and most reliably successful method for finishing this battle, though also the least challenging.